Like Its Protagonist, 'White Girl' is an Alienating and Chaotic Watch
This review previously ran on August 17, 2016, during the Sundance NEXT FEST
After screening "White Girl" on the second day of the Sundance Next Fest film festival, director Elizabeth Wood sat down for a Q&A with famed director Catherine Hardwicke ("Thirteen," "Twilight") and moderator Jen Yamoto, a journalist from The Daily Beast. One of Jen's questions piqued my interest: In so many words, she asked Wood if any of the reviews had upset her – after all, "White Girl" is a very divisive film and so I would have expected Wood's answer to sound well-rehearsed and politically correct. What she responded with shocked me. She said the reviews that cast "White Girl" in an unfavorable light must have been written by men, men who are lacking in their own sexual conquests to give her film an unbiased review. Well, I'm here to say that I am a white girl, and hold the same critiques that have followed "White Girl."
"White Girl" tells the story of 18-year-old Leah (Morgan Saylor), a New York City transplant, who finds both love and trouble in gangbanger Blue (Brian 'Sene' Marc), the neighborhood drug dealer. While Leah herself is far from a virgin to the world of narcotics, falling for Blue leads her down a self-destructive path of zonked-out drug-fueled sweaty nights. When Blue gets busted for selling cocaine – his third strike – Leah naively tries to get him out of jail in any way she can, which ultimately ends up being a spiraling mess of destruction.
The association to Larry Clark's "Kids" is inescapable; whereas Clark's portrayal of impoverished NYC youth stands as a time capsule of adolescent life in the 90s, Wood's "White Girl" doesn't penetrate the thematic surface nearly deep enough to warrant essential viewing. This type of "Live Fast, Die Young" mentality that "White Girl" embodies results in a thinly felt story that tries too hard to look cool to be anything substantial. Although I have to say, the ending was the most powerful part of the entire movie, but maybe that's because it's just in those final moments when Leah finally processes her actions and the unjustifiable insanity that has just occurred.
I also just don't see how "race" plays into this film at all, a poor mark on this director's effectiveness to relay its meaning to this film. Arguably, Leah could have been of any ethnicity and the situations she found herself in would have been no different. There are no "implications of her being white or female," the only struggle she faces is when she is high out of her mind and making terrible decisions. Her interracial relationship with Blue is never seen as taboo, aside from the fact that he sells drugs, and Leah certainly doesn't act like there is any racial tension in her daily life. She has an internship at a predominately white culture & fashion magazine (along the lines of Nylon Magazine) with an attractive white boss (Justin Bartha), lives with a white roommate (India Menuez), and seeks help from a white lawyer (Chris Noth). Now the relationships she has with the above characters are not healthy ones, in fact, this is where I feel like the only social issue comes into play and that is peer pressure: pressure to snort drugs, sell drugs, and have sex. If more attention had been focused in this direction– an 18-year-old college student facing peer pressure from every which way– that would have been a more pertinent issue facing young girls today.
Yes, with its overtly explicit nature this subject matter is bold and has won fans since its Sundance debut, but unfortunately, so many of the directorial choices seemed purely for shock and awe. Other films with similar subject matter, such as "Bang Gang," and "Heaven Knows What," found a way to avoid falling under the "ostentatious" category. Elizabeth Wood has stated that "White Girl" had been a therapeutic project for her, a sort of biopic from her early college years. I'm hopeful that with this out of her system now, her next film will better utilize her voice and talents as a strong female director.
"White Girl" is not rated. 88 minutes. Opening at select Laemmle Theaters on Friday, September 9th.
Canadian-Set 'Yoga Hosers' is 'Eh'-Mazingly Absurd
One of the more wildly talked about movies from this year's Sundance Film Festival that is finally hitting theaters today is the flamboyant comedy-meets-fantasy film, "Yoga Hosers," directed by Kevin Smith. Set in a small Canadian town where the accents are as thick as maple syrup, two 15-year-old best friends, with extremely unhealthy cell phone addictions, discover that horrifying demons are taking over their workplace and threatening to ruin their late night plans. But what are these terrifying little creatures? Turns out that they're Nazi sympathizing sausages from Canada's past, appropriately called "Bratzis."
Colleen Collette (Lily-Rose Depp) and Colleen McKenzie (Harley Quinn Smith) are yoga enthusiasts by day and convenience store clerks by night. They work after school dead-end jobs at Eh-2-Zed, the local corner store that sells everything from toilet paper to "Pucky Charms" cereal. Their overall bratty attitude changes to excitement after senior heartthrob Hunter Calloway (Austin Butler) invites the girls to a totally awesome "Grade 12" party. However, things don't go according to plan when they get stuck working a late shift, and discover not only is Hunter not the sweet guy they thought he was, but that they have bigger fish to fry, or in this case, sausages. Enlisting help from Guy Lapointe (Johnny Depp), the girls are forced to defeat the meat that is threatening to kill them.
As one can safely assume by this point, "Yoga Hosers" is a wacky and wholly original moviegoing experience. The cheesiness factor is through the roof, but that is one of its biggest charms. Seeing a movie that is technically sophisticated with a top notch cast (scene stealer Ralph Garman's insanely spot-on impressions of Sylvester Stallone and Adam West draw the biggest laughs), yet one that does not take itself too seriously on screen, is a rare occurrence these days and should be recognized. Think "Bad Milo" meets "Sausage Party" in terms of the thematic guideline. However, one of my biggest critiques is how anti-climactic the ending is in comparison to the outlandish storyline. There is no stopping this crazy train and the ending could have followed through with the same emphasis.
What really makes "Yoga Hosers" great is the familial full-circle connections off-screen. Firstly, and most obviously, director Kevin Smith cast his actors close to the vest with his daughter Harley Quinn as the lead character, Colleen M. Another fun connection is between Lily-Rose Depp, who not only acts alongside one, but both of her parents in the film. Her mother Vanessa Paradis plays Ms. Maurice, the school's history teacher who tells the girls of the Nazi origins in Canada. Her father, Johnny Depp, brings his signature Mad Hatter/Inspector Clouseau-kookiness to his character Guy Lapointe, the legendary man-hunter from Montreal whose accent is as wacky as his bushy brows. Finally, a subtle but interesting connection comes from the airheaded yoga instructor Yogi Bayer, played by Justin Long. Not to venture into gossip magazine mode, but until recently, his longtime girlfriend was Amanda Seyfried, who also appears on the cover of the town's hottest magazine.
The biggest misfortune as an audience member would be to walk into "Yoga Hosers" unprepared; not in terms of knowing the plot twists and turns, but in being unable to appreciate this unusual cinematic presentation. It is a film that will provoke you to immediately either love it or hate it. Yet, despite its critics, there is no denying that "Yoga Hosers" is certainly one of the wildest films of the year. Here's a hint– you definitely want to stay through the end credits just to see Johnny Depp shred on the guitar during the closing song.
"Yoga Hosers" is rated PG-13 for crude humor, sexual references, comic violence, and brief drug material. 88 minutes. Now playing in select theaters.
WWI Thriller 'Game of Aces' Leaves Much to be Desired
Director Damien Lay tackles the ambitious genre of "WWI historical thriller" in his first narrative feature film, "Game of Aces." Set in the Arabian desert with a predetermined storyline of historical context, unfortunately, the film is as vast as the characters in it, leaving much to be desired in terms of overall experience.
When we meet Captain Jackson Cove (Chris Klien), an American alcoholic pilot who has been grounded due to crashing too many planes, he is on a mission to save the life of the German Captain Josef von Zimmerman (Werner Daehn) who has also crashed a plane in the middle of the desert. Cove becomes upset after learning that he is not on this rescue mission alone; Joining him is a young English nurse and German translator Eleanor Morgan (Victoria Summer), whose perfectly glossed red lips and side-swept bangs make her look more like a movie starlet from the roaring 1920s than a down and dirty sidekick- which I don't think was done intentionally. After the duo out-run a plane, dodge gunfire, and get over their initial quips with each other, they come to the aid of Zimmerman, which exposes a tangled web of corruption, lies, and the classic "who dunnit" question.
There are a few issues I had with this film and not just the low-quality sound effects that, for some reason, muted every other gunshot sound. "Game of Aces" wants to be a comedy, but just doesn't nail it. Whether that's due to the choppy edit, or the overall non-fluidity of the project, what we have here is a hum-drum film that is void of cohesive focus. Any wartime film is a high-risk movie to make due to the demanding accuracy and nature of the genre, and Lay seems to acknowledge this by having only three main characters. While a smart choice on the directorial front, as an audience member, having a limited number of characters stranded in the blazing desert, that can't decide whether or not to make a joke or tell a thrilling story, makes it a tough, repetitive watch.
Chris Klein delivers "punny" one-liners in his signature gravelly voice many times throughout the film. His performance is actually preferred over Daehn's delusional screaming, cartoonish guzzling of water, and overall act of losing his mind.
Despite the criticism, Damien Lay has managed to assemble a cast of genuinely engaging actors and create a film that feels distant from it's limited $500,000 budget. However, it seems like the challenges it faced were too overpowering for "Game of Aces" to make it out of the Arabian desert alive.
"Game of Aces" is rated R for some violence and language. In select theaters Friday, September 2nd.
'The Light Between Oceans' is a Darkly Poetic and Affecting Love Story
Director Derek Cianfrance certainly has a knack for portraying "love lost and found." His 2010 indie classic, "Blue Valentine," is a moody and contemporary observation of one couple's relationship evolving throughout the years while his 2013 indie hit, "The Place Beyond the Pines," dealt with familial struggles and the far-reaching repercussions of poor choices. Cianfrance continues to do what he does best, bringing his past experience of showcasing these same themes and questions to his first studio film, based on the acclaimed novel by M.L. Stedman, "The Light Between Oceans." While this film is another romantic drama, written for the screen by Cianfrance, it is a small departure in terms of it being a period film, but that makes it no less relatable to modern audiences.
After four years fighting abroad in World War I, all Tom Sherbourne (Michael Fassbender) craves is isolation and a relatively risk-free routine. When he is offered the position of the lighthouse keeper in a small coastal town in Western Australia, he graciously accepts. After arriving, he meets and quickly falls in love with Isabel (Alicia Vikander) and the two soon marry. Isabel follows Tom to the lighthouse, which stands in seclusion from the rest of the town. They are blissfully in love with each other and with the silence, domesticating their tiny space on the island they call home and ready to start a family of their own.
Their happiness comes to a sudden halt after two emotionally and physically painful miscarriages. Isabel becomes a shell of her former self, while Tom feels helpless in his efforts to console her. That is until a rowboat washes ashore with a newborn baby girl and her deceased father onboard. Isabel sees this as a sign from God and begs Tom to let her keep the baby instead of reporting the incident per his official protocol. Torn between what he knows is right and his wife's happiness, Tom finally gives in to Isabel's pleas. Life goes on for the couple and their newly acquired baby without consequence until Tom's guilt catches up with him when he sees Hannah Roennfeldt (Rachel Weisz) around town. As soon as he realizes that she is the baby girl's birth mother, he knows the awful decision he will have to make. The moral dilemma of whether or not to expose the truth would not only devastate Isabel but ruin the relationship with the little girl they've come to love and call their own.
It is this impossible choice and the events that follow which makes "The Light Between Oceans" so painstakingly brutal. While author M.L. Stedman takes credit for the story's tragic circumstances, it is the colorful world created by Cianfrance that really drives the story home. Breathtaking visuals cover the screen from start to finish, with the camerawork making the characters seem so small compared to their epic surroundings. These sweeping images of the environment are juxtaposed with extreme closeups as if we are looking at the most intimate details of their relationship through a magnifying glass. In many scenes, the beats between Tom and Isabel's dialogue last longer than a typical film's edit, giving the characters not only a chance to act but react, which is how it achieves its heightened emotional intensity.
Coming off of a strong 2015, Alicia Vikander proves why she deserves to stay on the top this year. Her doe-eyed innocence and warm presence make her a protagonist worth rooting for, despite her flaws. We understand that her heart is in the right place and feel her pain as she finds herself in unspeakable situations. Michael Fassbender taps into his sensitive side as Tom, putting on a brave face for his family despite battling a moral war internally. Rachel Weisz gives a layered performance as Hannah as she experiences a rollercoaster of emotional grief and joy throughout the film. Watching these three powerful lead actors (Vikander and Weisz are Academy-Award winners, Fassbender has been nominated twice), is like truly watching magic on screen.
It would be lazy to call "The Light Between Oceans" this year's "The Notebook," however, there is no denying the strong emotional parallels (plus the fact that Fassbender and Vikander are now dating after meeting on the set a lá Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams). "The Light Between Oceans" isn't easy to get through with dry eyes, but this timeless love story is as mesmerizing and beautiful as it is gut-wrenching and powerful, most definitely a top contender in this year's best of lists.
“The Light Between Oceans” is rated PG-13 for thematic material and some sexual content. 132 minutes. In theaters everywhere on September 2nd.
Natalie Portman is a Triple Threat in 'A Tale of Love and Darkness'
Natalie Portman has always been considered more ambitious than most of her Hollywood peers. Opting to attend Harvard to study psychology in 1999, while placing her career on hold, she is a perfect example for actors everywhere that one shouldn't rely on beauty and talent alone to survive in show business, brains are also important. "A Tale of Love and Darkness" further proves her abilities as a triple threat, in a film that Portman not only stars in– but wrote and directed– based on Israeli author Amos Oz's bestselling memoir. Oh, and did I mention the film is in Hebrew with English subtitles?
"A Tale of Love and Darkness" is told from the perspective of Amos as an elderly man, reminiscing about his childhood in the budding State of Israel in the 1940s and '50s. Amos (Amir Tessler) is a 10-year-old Jewish boy, not yet mature enough to comprehend the politics of the Middle East. He meets a young Arab girl at a party and they only speak a few words, but this is enough for him to contextualize the conflict around him. His father, Arieh (Gilad Kahana), is an author and is very aware of the political discourse in the country and tries to teach his son life lessons every day. His mother, Fania (Portman), puts on a brave face as the matriarch of the household amongst the turmoil, but she battles internal forces that eventually become too overwhelming. Sadly, the disappointment in the expectation of Jerusalem's independence vs reality of the aftermath strains the family dynamic, to the point that Amos is forced to say a much too early goodbye to his mom whose closeness was that of a best friend.
In tackling the vast historical context of Middle East politics, "A Tale of Love and Darkness" is slower and much denser than any of Portman's other works. Its appeal is that it is non-commercial, but that doesn't mean it lacks cinematic inspiration. Some of the most vivid scenes come from the nightly bedtime stories Fania tells Amos. Just as the character, Sara in "A Little Princess" created fantasy worlds for her friends while in boarding school, the stories Fania tells are acted out in a similar fashion.
This film is not just Natalie Portman's directorial debut, it has also been her passion project and she worked on it for over 10 years. It is an interesting choice for a filmmaker's debut, as it definitely goes against the grain of formulaic Hollywood films. However, after watching, it seems like no one else could have pulled off this striking balance between romance and melancholy as well as Portman.
"A Tale of Love and Darkness" is rated PG-13 for thematic content and some disturbing violent images. 95 minutes. Now playing at the Landmark Theater.
'Disorder' Successfully Fuses High-Stakes Thrills With Emotional Tension
This review originally ran on 11/10/15 during the AFI Film Festival
Among the films in the “New Auteurs” category is the French film "Disorder," a full sensory experience that successfully fuses a high-tension thriller with an engaging dramatic story that creates lasting uneasiness long past the hour and a half runtime.
Written and directed by Alice Winocour, "Disorder" tells the story of Vincent (Matthias Schoenaerts, "Rust and Bone"), an ex-soldier suffering from PTSD, who has been assigned to provide personal security to a high-profile and possibly-shady businessman’s wife, Jessie (Diane Kruger, "Inglorious Basterds") and her young son, Ali. Struggling to keep his traumatic past behind him, and despite piercing bouts of panic attacks, Vincent’s paranoia serves as foresight when masked men forcibly put his and the lives he’s promised to protect in danger.
Schoenaerts and Kruger create a quiet sense of unrest, adding personal and emotional tension between the two against the backdrop of the suspense of the film. With the sharp sound design from electronic music-maker Gesaffelstein, "Disorder" falls into the same vein as other traditional Hitchcockian films: progressively stylized and a great character study into the mental landscape of a man unhinged.
"Disorder" is not rated. 98 minutes. Opening at the Laemmle Royal Theater in Santa Monica this Friday.
'On Meditation' is 60 Minutes of Enlightened Watching
As a disciple of meditation would agree, "The purpose of our life is to help others through it because, at the end of the day, we are all connected". One doesn't have to be a practicing Buddist to feel a sense of enlightenment from the new documentary "On Meditation", a brisk 65-minute film from director Rebecca Dreyfus that explores how the practice of daily meditation affects the lives of people in very different ways. The film opens at Laemmle’s Ahrya Fine Arts in Los Angeles today.
"On Meditation" is comprised of a series of mini-documentaries that profile various people, some famous and some not. Actor Giancarlo Esposito explains that setting aside time to meditate has not only helped him heal from the emotional scars of his poverty-stricken childhood, but also aids in his performance as an actor. In playing his most memorable role as Gustavo 'Gus' Fring in AMC's "Breaking Bad," he channeled his practice to make his character more of an observer, despite being evil, there is a quiet peace to his performance and personality as Gus that no one can deny.
Gabrielle Bernstein, a motivational speaker, talks of her early days struggling with horrible anxiety as a drug and alcohol addict. It wasn't until she hit rock bottom that she turned to meditation in the form of chanting mantras, a repetition of words and phrases that help center and calm the mind. Today she preaches the benefits that this practice has had on her life. Similarly, mogul Russell Simmons practices mindfulness to quiet his "noisy mind" a total of 2.5 hours a day. Despite having his hands in many projects, including film and tv, a record label, internet businesses, a financial services company, and five charities, he credits his priority of meditation as giving him the strength to stay strong.
Perhaps the most recognizable face in the documentary, especially if you are aware of this specific spiritual practice like I am, is David Lynch's talk of Transcendental Meditation. Before finding inner peace, Lynch thought of happiness as a dance on the surface– fleeting and empty. After finding TM, he has had a more optimistic view of the world and a feeling of unification in the notion that all living beings are in this together. Being David Lynch, most of what he has to say in the film is quoteworthy, and I personally found this specific phrase to be memorable: "An artist doesn't have to suffer to show suffering, just understand it."
"In Meditation" does not teach one how to meditate, for everyone will practice in different ways, rather it shows just how meaningful it is in people's lives. Many in the film believe that, if Americans were to set aside just five minutes a day to focus on their breath and their inner being, the world would be a better place. To end things on a positive note, as the film does, I leave you with another phrase that resonated with me: "We are all enlightened– maybe the lights just haven't been turned on yet."
"On Meditation" is not rated. 65 minutes. Now playing at Laemmle’s Ahrya Fine Arts in Los Angeles.
Sarah Hagan Shines in 'Sun Choke'
Now playing for a limited run at Arena Cinema, "Sun Choke" is nothing like I expected, and I mean that in a good way. Director Ben Cresciman taps into the psyche of a mentally unstable woman whose obsession over another girl turns deadly in the City of Angels. Taking a commanding lead as the naive yet delusional title character Janie, is Sarah Hagan– those who know her best as Millie from 'Freaks and Geeks' are definitely in for a wild rediscovery.
Janie (Hagan) sits expressionless at a table across from her stepmother/ psychological caretaker Irma (Barbara Crampton). Her long dark hair hangs from her frail frame, in complete contrast to Irma's rigid blonde bob and the pristine white decor of the large house they live in. Ever since her psychotic break that put her under the care of Irma, Janie has been a prisoner in her own home, forced to practice a strictly holistic lifestyle including a diet of green drinks, outdoor yoga, and coloring sessions, among other bizarre health regimens. Without disclosing the cause of her previous mental episode, we see that Janie is still clearly unwell.
An obsession with a local girl, Savannah (Sara Malakul Lane) becomes the object of Janie's affection. In this case, it is not a passion of love, rather a passion of control. The closer she gets to Savannah, literally by stalking and breaking into her house, the closer she gets to mentally unraveling once again.
Hagan's portrayal of Janie is a perfect character study of scene control; a lot of her battles are fought internally (mentally) but expressed very methodically. She moves in calculated ways that show off her true talent as an actor who not only plays the character but becomes
For all of its dreamy visuals and seemingly innocent art house persona, "Sun Choke" is a brutally psychological head trip that pushes viewers to the brink of their comfort zone. We not only witness Janie be subjected to various health rituals at the hands of her resentful stepmother, we are along for the ride as well. Most notably, the tuning fork used as aversion therapy and disguised as a torture device, whose sound design is meant to reach a decibel just short of unbearable, and definitely does its job. Just when we can't take it anymore, we cut to the next scene. It goes without saying that this wouldn't be a horror film without violence and nudity, which there is quite a lot of, yet ultimately, all things add up to the creation of one evocative, trippy film that is sure to run chills down your spine. You've been warned.
"Sun Choke" is not rated. 83 minutes. Now playing at Arena Cinema.